An account of the wildlife I come across and hopefully pictures to bring the account closer

Thursday, 8 November 2012

Thursday 8th. November 2012

After last week's excitement , this week has been much less so , but a few bits of interest did turn up .
My usual stop at Keston Ponds produced at least a dozen Mandarin Ducks , equally split male to

female . The males still looking very smart as seen above , but the juvenile seen below , still has much smartening up to do if he is to become a contender with the ladies in the Spring .
A visit to Bough Beech did not produce the hoped for Brambling on the feeder in the orchard , but

plenty of Tits and Finches , as well as a pair of Nuthatches that were doing their best to empty the feeder in record time . Overhead there were plenty of Fieldfares , but unlike other years , no apples on the ground in the orchard to bring them down . The lack of fruit no doubt due to the awful Spring . A

pair of Yellowhammers was a pleasant sighting during the visit . A distant Kingfisher from the hide

was as good as I could do with that species . I was hoping that he would perch on one of the posts just

in front of the hide , but didn't complain when a Grey Wagtail did just that . A couple of duck species

were also seen from the hide , a rather splendid drake Pintail that always kept as far as he could from

the hide , and a female Shoveler that was completely the opposite , coming reasonably close .
A look around West Wickham Common came up with a few fungi species ,

Rubber Buttons or Black Bulgar / Bulgaria inquinans on Oak ,

Amethyst Deceiver / Laccaria amethystea ,

and Calvatia excipuliformis .

In the horse field on the bottom lane on the way home , were a good number of Rooks .

A late afternoon visit to the Barn Owl site in lovely late sunshine , found a Rabbit enjoying the conditions . He needed to keep a good lookout , there were two Common Buzzards over the adjoining field . But the female Owl did not appear until it was almost dark , thwarting my efforts of a

better in flight shot of her , but I shall keep trying .
The biggest surprise of the week came today whilst assessing what Winter work will be needed on

Adder glades , finding a young female , soaking up the sunshine , whilst others were well tucked up underground , a really good November record .

A lovely selection Greenie. What a treat to see the Adder so late in the year. Some great photos agan, the Grey Wagtail was posing perfectly as was the Rabbit and the drake Pintail certainly is a very striking looking duck. Of course I'm very envious of the Kingfisher and Barn Owl :-)